The Vine and the Fig Tree for 2021

In days to come
    the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and shall be raised up above the hills.
Peoples shall stream to it,
2     and many nations shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He shall judge between many peoples,
    and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war any more;
4 but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
    and no one shall make them afraid;
    for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

5 For all the peoples walk,
    each in the name of its god,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
    forever and ever.

Micah 4:1-5 NRSV

There were a number of highlights as part of the Joe Biden inauguration, not the least of which was that DT was in Florida, marinating in his own bitterness. Superstar Lady Gaga was impressive with her rendition of the national anthem, but virtually unknown Amanda Gordon dazzled with her poem, The Hill We Climb.

                                             Robert Frost at JFK's Inauguration, 1961

I hadn't realized that there have been only a handful of inaugural ceremony poets, with Robert Frost being the first for John F Kennedy.. Frost was 86 at the time and couldn't complete the reading of his work because the sun was glaring off the page, so improvised the ending.  Gordon, at 22, added a powerful physicality to her recitation with the use of her hands. The phrases in The Hill We Climb which intrigued me were: 

Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we’ve made. That is the promise to glade, the hill we climb if only we dare it.

There was a sort of "nesting dolls" effect to this allusion. It turns out that it was from the musical Hamilton, which was referring to the words of George Washington, who was quoting from the book of the prophet Micah. It's fascinating that Washington was a slave-holder by the age of 11 while Gordon is the descendant of slaves, as she notes in her poem. 

The vision of a time of peace and restoration Gordon employed was an important one in the midst of such turmoil and division in the United States. The imagery of the vine and the fig tree were and are central to Judaism and Jesus, the Jew, used them both. The disturbing invasion of Capitol Hill by domestic terrorists on January 6th inspired Gordon to find the right metaphors for her poem within this history.  

In subsequent interviews Amanda Gordon has proven to be charming and insightful, wise beyond her years. The prophets of old were poets, as the verses from Micah attest, and this fresh young poet has drawn from their well for this moment.